Union Carbide Layoffs Begin

DANBURY (AP) — Dow Chemical Co. has begun laying off employees at Union Carbide in Danbury one month after the chemical giant acquired the company for $9.3 billion, a spokesman said last week.

The spokesman, Peter Paul van de Wijs, would not say how many employees have been laid off from the former corporate headquarters and what the total number eventually will be. Dow is drafting plans to merge the two companies, he said.

“There are people who have been asked to leave the company,” Mr Van De Wijs said. “Part of our synergy will be a people reduction.”

Mr Van De Wijs reiterated the company’s plan to let employees know their status within six months. About 350 jobs will be created in the next two years at Dow’s Midland, Mich., headquarters and some Danbury employees may be eligible for those jobs.

About 650 employees work at the Danbury site, Mr Van De Wijs said. Many are Newtown residents.

When the companies announced the merger in August 1999, officials said that about 2,000 jobs would be cut, but would not specify how many would come from Union Carbide in Danbury.

Stephen Bull, president of the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce, said the layoffs were expected as a result of the acquisition. He said he believes that between 300 and 400 employees will remain in Danbury.

The layoffs should not have a major impact on the region. Unemployment in Danbury, at 1.4 percent, is among the state’s lowest and laid-off workers may not have trouble finding jobs, he said.

“Many of our employers are screaming for employees,” Mr Bull said. “These are very highly trained individuals.”

Dow completed its $9.3 billion acquisition of Union Carbide last month after the Federal Trade Commission told the chemical giant it would have to divest intellectual property critical to the production of plastic trash bags to gain federal approval.

The 1.2-million-square-foot former Union Carbide headquarters in Danbury is now a Dow satellite business center which kept responsibility for licensing, water soluble polymers, organic intermediates/ solvents and monomers, wire and cable, and specialty polymers.